Cytoskeletal Energetics and Energy Metabolism

Abstract: Life is a nonequilibrium phenomenon. Metabolism provides a continuous flux of energy that dictates the form and function of many subcellular structures. These subcellular structures are active materials, composed of molecules which use chemical energy to perform mechani ...

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Hydrodynamics and multi-scale order in confluent epithelia

Abstract: In this talk I will review our ongoing theoretical and experimental efforts toward deciphering the hydrodynamic behavior of confluent epithelia. The ability of epithelial cells to collectively flow lies at the heart of a myriad of processes that are instrumental for li ...

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Nonreciprocal matter: living chiral crystals

Abstract: Active crystals are highly ordered structures that emerge from the nonequilibrium self-organization of motile objects, and have been widely studied in synthetic and bacterial active matter. In this talk, I will describe how swimming sea star embryos spontaneously assem ...

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Drivers of Morphological Complexity

Abstract: During development, organisms interact with their natural habitats while undergoing morphological changes, yet we know little about how the interplay between developing systems and their environments impacts animal morphogenesis. Cnidaria, a basal animal lineage that i ...

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The many phases of a cell

Abstract: I will begin by introducing an emerging paradigm of cellular organization – the dynamic compartmentalization of biochemical pathways and molecules by phase separation into distinct and multi-phase condensates. Motivated by this, I will discuss two largely orthogonal p ...

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Eppur si muovono: rotations in active matter

Abstract: Living matter relies on the self organization of its components into higher order structures, on the molecular as well as on the cellular, organ or even organism scale. Collective motion due to active transport processes has been shown to be a promising route for attrib ...

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